The first half of 2011 is officially in the books, and many investors find their portfolios in approximately the same place as they were to start the year (though a furious rally in the final week of the quarter gave a nice boost at an opportune moment). Most major equity indexes are up slightly on the year, while fixed income benchmarks have similarly hovered around breakeven. Beyond these broad generalizations, there are some significant performance discrepancies among exchange-traded products that may seem to offer up similar risk/return profiles.

The following tables highlight the top performers from every ETFdb Category during the first six months of the year, shedding some light on the asset classes that have struggled and thrived so far in 2011–and reinforcing that the seemingly minor distinctions between ETPs can lead to big differences in performance [for monthly updates on the best performers, sign up for the free ETFdb newsletter]:

Equity ETFs

The top performer in this list isn’t a true ETF; the hyper-concentrated BHH enjoyed a stellar first half of the year thanks to a jump in the stock that makes up about 90% of the portfolio [see The Curious Case of the B2B Internet HOLDR]:

Ticker

Name

ETFdb Category

YTD

BHH

HOLDRS B2B Internet

Technology Equities

33.3%

IHF

iShares Dow Jones U.S. Health Care Providers Index

Health & Biotech Equities

21.0%

FXG

First Trust Cons. Staples AlphaDEX

Consumer Staples Equities

18.8%

IFEU

iShares FTSE EPRA/NAREIT Europe Index Fund

Global Real Estate

17.4%

EWP

iShares MSCI Spain Index Fund

Europe Equities

16.9%

PSCE

S&P SmallCap Energy Portfolio

Energy Equities

15.4%

GWO

ELEMENTS CS Global Warming ETN

Industrials Equities

13.2%

RFG

Rydex S&P Midcap 400 Pure Growth

Mid Cap Growth Equities

13.2%

SKOR

IQ South Korea Small Cap ETF

Asia Pacific Equities

12.5%

PUI

PowerShares Dynamic Utilities

Utilities Equities

12.3%

ICF

iShares Cohen & Steers Realty Major

Real Estate

11.9%

PXSG

RAFI Fundamental Pure Small Growth Portfolio

Small Cap Growth Equities

11.7%

QQXT

First Trust NASDAQ-100 Ex-Technology Sector Index

Large Cap Growth Equities

11.5%

FXD

First Trust Cons. Discretionary AlphaDEX

Consumer Discretionary Equities

10.9%

PKW

PowerShares Buyback Achievers

All Cap Equities

10.9%

PYZ

PowerShares Dynamic Basic Materials

Materials

10.9%

CZA

Guggenheim Mid-Cap Core ETF

Mid Cap Blend Equities

10.6%

EIDO

MSCI Indonesia Investable Market Index Fund

Emerging Markets Equities

10.6%

SPGH

UBS E-TRACS S&P 500 Gold Hedged ETN

Large Cap Blend Equities

10.3%

CVY

Guggenheim Multi-Asset Income ETF

Large Cap Value Equities

9.9%

DEW

Global Equity Income Fund

Global Equities

9.6%

PFA

PowerShares Dynamic Developed International Opportunities Portfolio

Foreign Large Cap Equities

9.2%

IST

SPDR S&P International Telecommunications Sector ETF

Communications Equities

9.2%

EZM

WisdomTree MidCap Earnings Fund

Mid Cap Value Equities

9.1%

PXSV

RAFI Fundamental Pure Small Value Portfolio

Small Cap Value Equities

9.1%

GNAT

Global Natural Resources Fund

Commodity Producers Equities

8.4%

JKJ

iShares Morningstar Small Core Index Fund

Small Cap Blend Equities

7.9%

PZD

PowerShares Cleantech Portfolio

Alternative Energy Equities

7.7%

DIM

WisdomTree International MidCap Dividend Fund

Foreign Small & Mid Cap Equities

6.8%

IYT

iShares Dow Jones Transportation Average Index Fund

Transportation Equities

6.8%

EUFN

MSCI Europe Financials Sector Index Fund

Financials Equities

6.0%

MLPG

E-TRACS Alerian Natural Gas MLP Index

MLPs

5.8%

CGW

Guggenheim S&P Global Water Index ETF

Water Equities

4.7%

XHB

SPDR Homebuilders ETF

Building & Construction

4.3%

GXC

SPDR S&P China ETF

China Equities

4.1%

JSC

SPDR Russell/Nomura Small Cap Japan

Japan Equities

2.0%

EWZS

MSCI Brazil Small Cap Index Fund

Latin America Equities

1.8%

Bond ETFs

One bond ETF stood apart from the crowd in the first half of 2011; DTYL gained more than any other bond fund during the first six months of the year, and eclipsed many equity products as well:

Ticker

Name

ETFdb Category

YTD

DTYL

US Treasury 10-year Bull Exchange Traded Note

Government Bonds

15.4%

IBND

SPDR Barclays Capital International Corporate Bond ETF

Corporate Bonds

8.7%

CMF

iShares S&P Cali Muni Bond

California Munis

8.3%

BABS

SPDR Nuveen Barclays Capital Build America Bond ETF

National Munis

8.0%

WIP

SPDR DB International Government Inflation-Protected Bond ETF

Inflation-Protected Bonds

7.3%

BWZ

SPDR Barclays Capital Short Term International Treasury Bond ETF

International Government Bonds

6.9%

PCEF

CEF Income Composite Portfolio

Total Bond Market

6.7%

NYF

iShares S&P NY Muni Bond Fund

New York Munis

6.7%

PGF

PowerShares Financial Preferred

Preferred Stock/Convertible Bonds

5.8%

EMLC

Market Vectors Emerging Markets Local Currency Bond ETF

Emerging Markets Bonds

5.4%

MBG

SPDR Barclays Capital Mortgage Backed Bond ETF

Mortgage Backed Securities

4.2%

HYLD

Peritus High Yield ETF

High Yield Bonds

6.1%

MINT

PIMCO Enhanced Short Maturity Strategy Fund

Money Market

0.8%

Commodity & Currency ETFs

The great commodity rally of 2010 carried over to 2011 in many categories; the stellar performance of BNO is attributable in large part to the inversion of the historical discount relative to WTI crude (BNO beat USO by a wide margin during the first half):

Ticker

Name

ETFdb Category

YTD

BNO

United States Brent Oil Fund

Oil & Gas

19.7%

SIVR

ETFS Silver Trust

Precious Metals

12.3%

FXF

Rydex CurrencyShares Swiss Franc Trust

Currency

10.8%

JO

iPath Dow Jones-UBS Coffee ETN

Agricultural Commodities

7.1%

DBC

PowerShares DB Commodity Index Tracking Fund

Commodities

5.1%

LD

iPath Dow Jones-UBS Lead Total Return Sub-Index

Metals

4.3%

Leverage & Inverse ETFs

Several leveraged and inverse ETFs turned in impressive performances so far in 2011, once again highlighting that these products won’t necessarily crumble when held for an extended period of time:

Ticker

Name

ETFdb Category

YTD

BIB

Ultra Nasdaq Biotechnology

Leveraged Equities

27.9%

DRN

Daily Real Estate Bull 3x Shares

Leveraged Real Estate

27.2%

URR

Market Vectors-Double Long Euro ETN

Leveraged Currency

17.1%

LBND

3x Long 25+ Year Treasury Bond ETN

Leveraged Bonds

17.0%

AGA

DB Agriculture Double Short ETN

Leveraged Commodities

9.4%

FLAT

US Treasury Flattener Exchange Traded Note

Inverse Bonds

2.5%

ADZ

DB Agriculture Short ETN

Inverse Commodities

1.8%

KRS

Short KBW Regional Banking

Inverse Equities

1.5%

Best Of The Rest

The best performance of the first half of 2011 belonged to XIV, which thrived thanks to consistent contango in VIX futures markets and a precipitous decline in the “fear index” over the last week of the quarter [see VZZ Bites The Dust]:

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